Saturday, August 13, 2011

Archdiocese of New Orleans Catholic Newspaper Gets A Whole New Internet Look ( Plus Other LA Catholic Newspapers)

Ahh this is so much better.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans newspaper has gone through several forms. That is a slow loading PDF with enticings things such as ( WARNING TAKES TIME TO LOAD DOWNTIME LOAD COULD TAKE A WHILE) to a better but still rather awkward linking system to their PDF , to now this. I would like a PDF option too but heck I will take this any day of the week. PLUS THEY ARE ON TWITTER. KUDOS.

I still think they need to have the link more prominent at the Archdiocese Web site. I mean if we are going to spend so much on it why not? However the "product" placement of the newspaper so people can find it ( or even be aware it's online ) is a problem we see elsewhere.

The various Catholic Dioceses are slowly but surely getting better as to their web sites and putting their often very good newspapers online.

The Diocese of Lafayette thankfully has their publication FINALLY online ( right lower corner).

It's a start and I like the ability to look at the whole paper ADS and all. However you really can't link it, you really can't copy and paste parts of the article, and that format seems to have the annoying habit on my computer to FREEZE around page 15. BUT its a good start and better than what was before which was nothing.

I really can't complain too much. Up until just a few years ago the Dicoese of Lafayette and Dicoeseof Baton Rouge were both in a neck and neck race to see how who had the best Commodore 64 era Diocese Web site. Thankfully as we see here times have changed.

The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux also has one of the better papers in the State that also includes all these fun supplements on Hunting and Fishing and such during the year.

Though today one has a hard time finding it on it's web site. Go here!! Now again I like this PDF format because I am looking at the whole paper. However for those of us with the standard Adobe reader it's kind of hard to ( or at least I have not figured it out) to copy and past those articles. Also you really can't link articles in it and spread the word about all the wonderful things happening without sending the whole blessed PDF and giving exact instructions where the article is at. That hard to do on twitter in such few character.

The Diocese of Lake Charles sadly still does not have their paper online though it appears they put a few of their Diocesan article on their web site. For the record the Diocese of Lake Charles is the only paper not to have it's paper online. I don't think those links ( while nice, are only things in their paper they publish. (BOOOOOOO!! )

The Diocese of Alexandria for a rural yet dynamic Diocese has always had a good newspaper. The problem is one has to hire an Amazon River explorer to find it on their new and improved web site.

On the old web site it was much more apparent. It's called the "Church Today" on the right under Download Documents click on it and then click on current issue. PRESTO!! Now again I like having the PDF option. But in the age of social media as we are competing against the world to get our message out is it best to have that as the only option?

My little ole Diocese of Shreveport I think combines the best of all worlds. Though if you are a lapsed Catholic , or just interested how would know the Catholic Connection link (top of the page) is the newspaper. It sounds like perhaps a dating service. Here you can view the format in a form like you can as to Lafayette or Alexandria or as you can see they have each individual article available to be LINKED.

Which brings us the Diocese of Mike the Tiger The Diocese of Baton Rouge. The Catholic Commentator is at the bottom. ( I think I would again make it known this the Catholic Newspaper and make it more of a big deal). I think as of this moment the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge has the best web site for their newspaper. Such a vast improvement from just a few years ago when it took like 20 minutes for their PDF to load. KUDOS!!

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